UPDATE 3/1: On the show floor today, ZTE provided some more details about its rather confusing MWC presser; turns out, that prototype phone already exists, though it's under glass.

BARCELONA—ZTE tried to get the jump on other Qualcomm Snapdragon 835-based phones today by pre-announcing a "gigabit phone," but the No. 4 US phone maker's announcement turned into a belly flop.

We did get a slight tease of the next Axon, the successor to ZTE's Editors' Choice-winning unlocked Axon 7. The next Axon will be "super fast with gigabit class broadband connection," be "smart with AI and optimized algorithm," and "exquisite design," according to a company slide. That first bit is understood to mean that it will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with a Qualcomm X16 modem.

The second bit, about the AI, is particularly interesting, although ZTE didn't expand on it. That could mean the Google Assistant, which will almost certainly be on the new Axon, or it could mean more aggressive AI and user adaptation such as in the Honor Magic, a phone that makes usage suggestions based on your location and habits.

But we were also led through a story about a "ZTE gigabit phone" that consisted primarily of a bunch of slides taken from Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 slide deck (and not credited). The "gigabit phone" is a prototype that doesn't even have a case, and it will be "commercial in the next one to two years," according to ZTE VP Wei Luo.

The gigabit-phone press release also contains nonsense sentences like "the ZTE Gigabit Phone is three times as powerful at improving data processing capability in the current network." I think that means it has faster download speeds, but that's just a guess.

Luo also described future AI-focused smartphones with "faster and smoother experiences optimized by algorithms," although he remained painfully vague on details. "5G, AI, big data will be the key words. Everything is perception, everything is calculation, everything is interconnection," he said.

This is all weird because the Axon will be a "gigabit" phone, thanks to the X16, and it's coming out this year. Luo seemed to acknowledge that: "The best phone you can expect from ZTE, I can definitely tell you it's the next Axon smartphone," he said.

Especially because we anticipate other 835-based phones supporting gigabit LTE this year, that makes the mysterious "gigabit phone" far from the "world's first Gbps smartphone," as ZTE's slide says.

ZTE Isn't Usually This Obtuse

This isn't the ZTE USA I'm used to. ZTE got to No. 4 (sometimes No. 5) in the US market by delivering sensible, "affordable premium" products and listening to what carriers and users wanted in value for money. The Axon 7, which we really like, showed off that philosophy at its best.

My only guess is that ZTE is trying to establish some sort of beachhead by making an 835 announcement before any other manufacturers. But by declaring its "gigabit phone" a prototype that's potentially two years away, it did worse for the company than not making that announcement at all.

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts of the daily PCMag Live Web show and speaks frequently in mass media on cell-phone-related issues. His commentary has appeared on ABC, the BBC, the CBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers from San Antonio, Texas to Edmonton, Alberta.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer, having contributed...
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